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Samauri X - The difference between the OVA's and the anime/manga?

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ryovyse:
I watched the first 3 OVA's of this and loved them, however I thought that if I went back and read the manga/watched the series it would flesh out the story line a bit more. The only problem is the OVA's are pretty dark and serious wheras the anime is all happy clappy (i'm only on episode 13).

Can someone please tell me if the anime goes the way of the OVA's by following the same storyline and therefore becomming more miserable? I don't want to watch the whole anime if it remains the same.

kureshii:
The anime is quite separate from the OVAs. They pretty much fit in the same storyline, although the Seisouhen OVA has a gloomier ending. The anime/manga left the story open-ended, while Seisouhen gives it a cathartic ending, although many fans chastised it as being "non-canon" (apparently it deviated from Nobuhiro Watsuki's interpretation of the franchise). Not that it has any bearing on how you should watch it.

Tsuiokuhen is the prequel, which fleshes out Kenshin's early training under Hiko Seijurou the 13th and his involvement in the rebellion against the Tokugawa regime. The anime picks up some time after, and refers to some of the events from the OVA in a few flashbacks.

Takeshi:
The TV series is based on the manga of same name. I don't think it has what you liked about the OVAs. The OVA is the prequel. I won't say anything about TV series, but at least give it a few more episodes. Read the AniDB comments, too.

kenshin-dono:
OHHH questino about my fave series ;P

Seisouhen is horse shit. Even the friggin creator of the show said its garbage so that tells you something

The manga didn't really leave the show open ended, it had kinda a nice 'years later' finish. Basically it and the TV series are very simmilar in style, and story up to a certain point then the anime does its own thing and skips some of the best arcs of the manga

most of your questions were answered but heres a more detailed breakdown and ADB links to make sure you know whats what

Tsuiokuhen OAV's are 4 epps long and are a prequel of sorts. They show Kenshins past and show why he became the person he is in the manga/anime, and why he vowed to never take another human life. Its a beautful piece of film that i view as my favorite anime of all time. Its very dark and serious with no SD stuff or comedy in it, no super moves or anything of that nature.  Although i have to question why you only watched 3 episodes, the 4th is the best part

The TV series is 95 episodes long and loosely follows the manga. Basically its good till up through  the shisshio/kyoto arc, then it goes WAY downhill from there. Its very different in tone and a mix of action and goofy comedy. Pretty good but nothing like the OAV at all. Id say give it a look but dont feel you have to watch it past the Kyoto arc, thats where they really went off kilter and didn't wind up doing one of the best arcs in the manga with Enishi, Tomoes brother that you see in the OAV. Also worth mentioning the art style doesn't hold up as well over time as the OAV did. Even though the OAV is old the animation quality was top notch stuff at the time with some live action and cg stuff blended seamlessly, this one doesn't age as well.

Theres also a movie thats just kinda 'meh' and more along the lines of the anime style. Its a side story and has nothing to really do with anything but its worth a look as well

which brings us to... Seisouhen .. ungh. This OAV is utter garbage. Seriously its terrible. I wouldn't even recomend watching it, i view the manga ending as the true ending. Nobuhiro Watsuki is on record saying he hates it so that should tell you something. Its a pointless jumble of random flashbacks covering the series and a TINY little quib of the awesome enishi arc that got skipped in the anime. Back when it was coming out i saw screenshots of Enishi and i was all pumped.. boy was i disapointed. I say skip this one entirely

one more thing to mention. There are directors cuts and regular versions of both the first and second OAV. For Tsuiokuhen stay away from the directors cut Its worse than just watching the 4 oavs back to back. They changed some stuff around including taking out some of the beautiful music, but worst of all they just cropped the original 4:3 ratio to make it appear 16:9 o_O why the hell would you do that? Theres a tiny added scene at the end with kenshin kicking ass on a bridge but its not even remotely worth it


if you insist on watching Seisouhen though you may want to look at the directors cut of that one.. its a little more fleshed out with some scenes that actually add to the story and a few cute scenes of kenshin raising his kid

well, hope that helps!

mgz:
Just a heads up, the tv series after he fights (shishio???) the mummy looking guy, deviates from the manga completely and is 100% filler.

And whether the creators liked the ending of the OVAs or not i felt it was still one of the best animated pieces ive watched (the ova in its entirety)
And whiile the end was a bit different then maybe they wanted it to be it was still done quite fantastically.

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